Numbers and Stuff

I taught ten years in the classroom teaching grades 4 through 6. I absolutely loved my job, but I had to say goodbye as I moved back home. I had two dreamy years of substitute teaching in both my hometown and a neighboring city, somewhat at my leisure! I have now been teaching Title I Math in that same neighboring city for grades K-6 since 2014 and I love it!!!

I spend some time each week either observing students while working or checking over their classroom work. I determine how best I can help each student by completely individualizing each of their lessons with me. I focus mainly on number sense and operations from basic facts to working with larger numbers and fractions. I like to use manipulatives, lots of repetition, and sometimes refer to my approach as "tweaking"!

My awards come from my students when they share their achievements with me. From counting to 100 for the first time, to finally "getting" regrouping, or passing a test for the first time! My greatest honor is when I am able to "graduate" a student from Title I!

I had two amazing math teachers in high school, two teachers that taught so very differently. I'd like to say that I have a little of both of them in my teaching style. One thing that both of them instilled in me is that, with math, neatness is key and precision is a must. I attended Moorhead State University and was the last graduating class of MSU in 2000. After that, the name changed to Minnesota State University-Moorhead (MSUM). I had the most amazing professors in the Elementary Education Program, one being the elementary mathematics professor who taught me to teach math conceptually. She also made us learn to do all four operations using any Base except Base 10. If anything, that made me very aware of how a student feels when they "absolutely do not get it!" Although at the time, I thought she was "off", she was absolutely 100% correct in her approach in teaching us.

I have three children, two in high school and one in college. They are my life! My love, Mike, is my rock. I get to call my hometown home, which is such a blessing. My parents, siblings, and a ton of relatives also live their, too! It's a wonderful life!!